Rohingyalish is
the modern writing system for the true spoken language of Rohingyas, the
indigenous but oppressed Muslim minority people of Arakan State in the
north-western part of Burma(Myanmar). Rohingyalish uses Latin alphabets A-Z, and two
other charactersÇandÑalong with the
five accented vowelsÁÉÍÓÚ.Çis a variant ofR, used for rolling-tongue sound and
pronounced asrd’i. Ñis a variant of N, used for nasal sound and pronounced asan’h. While the normal
vowels are used for soft sound, the accented vowels are used for stressed
sound.C, though originally used forKandSsound, is now used only for theShsound and thus it
is named toshi.

Aa

Bb

Cc

Çç

Dd

Ee

Ff

New Alphabets:

Cc=shi

Çç
=rd’i

Ññ
=an’h

Numbers: 0123456789

Gg

Hh

Ii

Jj

Kk

Ll

Mm

Nn

Ññ

Oo

Pp

Qq

Rr

Ss

Tt

Uu

Vv

Ww

Xx

Yy

Zz

Fig 1.Rohingyalish
Character Set Table

All the
Rohingyalish alphabets (capital and small forms) with its proper arrangement
are shown inFig. 1above followed by the rules 1 through 16 that explain in details how to
write Rohingya words. For numbers, Rohingyalish uses Arabic numerals 0-9 as
shown above and how to read and count them are shown at the end in rule number
16.

1.The original English vowels (a, e, i, o, u) are used as
soft vowels.

In English, the
vowels (a, e, i, o, u) are used as hard (emphasized) vowels. But
the Rohingyalish uses these vowels as soft (and also as short) vowels.
Whenever hard vowels are required, Rohingyalish uses another set of vowels (á,
é, í, ó, ú), which are normally known as accented (gutá) vowels.

These accented
vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) can be typed in Computer by simply choosing the
keyboard type as United States-Internationalthrough the
Windows control panel. To set in Windows 98 follow the steps as “Start –
Settings - Control Panel – Keyboard – Language - English (United States) –
Properties --United States-International – OK – OK”. After setting the
keyboard, you can get (á) by first typing a single quote ( ' )
followed by (a). Similarly, to get (ç) type ( ' ) followed
by (c), and for (ñ) first type (~) followed by (n).
For Windows 2000, and Windows Xp, add and select the "United
States-International" as the default keyboard.

See below how Ba and Boo in English are
written in Rohingyalish to get the same sound.

Ba(in English) = Bá (in Rohingyalish)

Boo
(in English) = Bú(in
Rohingyalish)

Rohingyalish
words with soft vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and hard vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú)
are shown below as examples along with the meaning. The last line in the
example shows the 6th vowel (ou and óu are explained
later) of the Rohingyalish.

Bak

=

tiger

Bák

=

share

Bet

=

cane stick

Bét

=

intention

Kil

=

punch

Kíl

=

wedge

Zor

=

fever

Zór

=

rain

Ful

=

hole/bridge

Fúl

=

flower

Zouloi

=

Nail

Zóuli

=

bamboo fence

2.Rohingyalish
has a total of ( 12 ) basic vowels where six are of the soft-sounds and the
other six are of hard-sounds.

To
understand here easily, the consonant K is used as refer­ence to show the sound
of each vowel.

English

In English, the
sound of each vowel is not fixed to a particular sound. The sound of any vowel
varies from words to words causing enormous difficulties to know which sound is
the correct one, particularly for whom English is the 2nd
language.Moreover, there is no
method to know which vowel needs to be emphasized and which one is not to be
emphasized depending on how the particular English word is pronounced. The five
basic English vowels along with K are:-

Ka

Ke

Ki

Ko

Ku

(vowels used as hard or soft sound)

Rohingyalish

In Rohingyalish,
the sound of each vowel is fixed to one particular sound. Therefore,
Rohingyalish has 12 basic fixed sounds, where the first six are for the soft
sounds and the other six are for the hard sounds as shown in the table below.

Ka

Ke

Ki

Ko

Ku

Kou

(vowels used as soft sounds)

Ká

Ké

Kí

Kó

Kú

Kóu

(vowels used as hard sounds)

The
pronunciation of each soft sound can be represented with an English phrase “On
Februari Tour” where Februari means the month
February. Another similar one is “Put Americaon
Tour”. The following are some comparative examples with English words:-

Kais pronounced as Ca
as in the word Calculator, but not to be pronounced as in the word Can.

Ke is
pronounced as Kay as “e” is pronounced in English words
Let, Bet, Get, Net, and Wet but in soft sound.

Kiis pronounced as
it is pronounced in the word Kilo.

Ko will be pronounced as Kaw (but in short)
as “o” is pronounced in English words Dot, Not, God,
Lot, Rod but in soft sound.

Ku will be pronounced as Cuin the word Calculator.

Kou will be pronounced exactly as English Ko. Here
Rohingyalish “ou” is made equal to English “o” as it is used in
English words Go, Old, Won, Own, Toll, Sold,
Bold, Mold, Fold but in soft sound.

3.Rohingyalish words should not be read the same wayEng­lish is read.

In English, the
words are read after analyzing the whole word and then pronounced correctly.
This is not required in Rohingyalish. Simply read the consonant vowel pairs
from left to right. Apply the following methods in the order shown to get the
best possible results:

(a)If the
word follows the sequence of one consonant and one vowel then pronounce one
consonant and one-vowel pairs individually and then combine the results. For
example;

Mazé= Ma + Zé= Ma Zé(middle)

Fala= Fa + La= Fa
La(pillar)

Salu= Sa+ Lu= Sa
Lu(moving)

Thalasabí= Tha+ La + Sa + Bí=ThaLaSaBí
(lock and keys)

(b)If the word
follows the sequence of one consonant and one vowel followed by another
consonant then pronounce the three combined together. Do the same for the rest.
Finally combine the results. For example;

Sultán= Sul+ Tán= Sul
Tán(the
name Sultan)

Tormus= Tor+ Mus= Tor
Mus(water melon)

Bañdor= Bañ + Dor= Bañ Dor(monkey)

Fandhúk= Fan + Dhúk= Fan Dhúk(pipe)

(c)The
word may follow both rules mentioned above. For example;

Burus= Bu+ Rus(brush)

Gorom= Go+ Rom(hot)

Hañdá= Hañ + Dá(shoulder)

Fonná= Fon + Ná(education)

(d)There may be
two vowels together side by side. For example;

Sail= Sai +
L(trick)

Beil= Bei+
L(sun)

Soil= Soi+
L(rice)

Tui= Tui(you)

Gouru= Gou
+ Ru(cow)

Mouloi= Mou
+ Loi(Arabic Teacher)

Maana= Maa
+ Na(free)

4.New Alphabets
( Ñ ) and ( Ç ) pronounced
as an’h andrd’a.

These two new
alphabets are taken from Latin Alphabets and are very important for
Rohingyalish to produce nasal sound using (Ñ), and a variant of R
sound(i.e. tongue rolling sound) using (Ç). These two sounds are not
used in English Language.A list
of Rohingyalish words are shown below as examples:

More nasal sound
examples: normal without ñ(left) and nasal with ñ (right):

Sáda

=

White

Sañda

=

donation or tax

Kurá

=

chicken

Kuñra

=

bring together/chicken food

More nasal
andtongue rolling sound
examples:

Keñça

=

fish bone

Meçá

=

bottle cap

Suañ

=

bamboo pipe

Meçi

=

soil,
ground

Súañ

=

Stick

Theçá

=

not straight

5.The alphabet ( C )has been used differently.

Rohingyalish
does not need the alphabet C because it has two different sounds which
can be replaced with K and S. However, Rohingyalish words have a
lot of ‘sh’ sounds and it would be easier to use a single character ‘C’
instead of two characters ‘sh’.Therefore, ‘C’ is made equal to ‘sh’ and named as ‘shi’.
See Examples:

Cúndor(Shúndor)

=

beautiful

Camic(Shamish)

=

spoon

Cuñça(Shuñça)

=

cigars

Doc(Dosh)

=

ten

Óñc(Óñsh)

=

loose

Fáñc(Fáñsh)

=

fertilizer

Cícciçi mas (shíshshiiçi
mas)

=

a kind of fish

Cóccoçar(shóshshoçar)

=

ducks looking food in
shallow water

6.The differences in ( T ), ( Th ) and ( D
), ( Dh )

The T
sound is taken as the sound of Th as used in the English word Think.
Alternatively, the Th sound is taken as the sound of T that is
used in the English word Total.

See examples of
Rohingyalish words with meaning in English:

Taza

=

fresh

Mutha

=

fat

Talu

=

Bald

Thambu

=

tent

Tal

=

music

Thal

=

pile

Tuta

=

parrot

Thaththi

=

toilet

The normal D
sound is taken exactly the same sound of the word The in English.
The Dh sound is taken as the sound of the normal D in English,
i.e. as in the word Donut.See examples of Rohingyalish words with meaning in
English:

Dándah

=

profession

Dhandha

=

short rod for beating

Duwa

=

prayer

Dhuwa

=

soil container at the root
of a plant

Duadi

=

busy; quickly

Dhandhari

=

tales

7.Three kinds of( H ) sounds

The three kinds
of H sounds are produced by a single quoted H', a single H, and Kh
respectively as shown below in examples.

H'a = sound produced at the beginning of the mouth
by blowing air out, as in the word H'ava meaning air in Rohingyalish. There are
a few words only with this sound. Because of very few words a single quote
requirement is made optional unless necessary. In the case where there are two
alternative saying for the same thing such as áñti or háñti (meaning
elephant), áñc or háñc (meaning duck), the single quote will be
always omitted. Interestingly, the saying difference is based on either he/she
is from north or south of Arakan. Examples: háva, howá, háñala, háñc,
háñtih, hórin, húñciar, háff, hála, hál, hoñsu, hoñiçá, hoñinya, hoñroi,
hámbah, hóraf, hottú.

Ha = Rohingyalish adopted this sound to work like
Kha (below) which produces sound from the middle of the mouth, as in the words hána
(Khána) and holom (Kholom) meaning food and Pen
respectively. Since more than 90% of the all Ha sounds are in this
category, Rohingyalish uses more simpler method which is hána and holom.
Many Languages have only one variety of Ha sounds with the most
exception being Arabic language having three distinct Ha(s).Examples: hala, holom, háiye, hosóm,
hóbor.

&nbssp;

Kha = sound produced frrom the middle of the mouth as above.
But this is to be used only for Arabic name such as “Khaled” instead of
writing “Haled”.

O,
used as au, is 40% of all the vowels used in Rohingyalish words.
Most European and Asian languages use sounds either vertical (such as Bu) or
horizontal (such as Ba). However, in Rohingyalish there are many sounds that
are neither complete vertical nor complete horizontal and it is rather exactly in
between which can be said, in other words, 45 degree sounds (0 degree means
horizontal and 90 means vertical). Examples are Baw, Daw, Naw, Saw, etc.. These
can be better spelled as Bau, Dau, Nau, Sau etc. by using both horizontal and
vertical vowels together. Since 40% of the words in Rohingyalish will have
these sounds in average, it is better if we can adopt only one vowel instead of
the two vowels a and u together, so that the word will be short
and easier to read. Therefore o is adopted to pronounce as au
always, as it is pronounced in the English word For. While doing that ou
is adopted to pronounce as the true sound of the English o as found in
the English words Go, No, Bother, Old, Won but in soft way. See examples
below.

Norom

=

soft

Gorom

=

hot

Holom

=

pen

Zonom

=

birth

Córom

=

shyness

Nolor

=

not taking

Goró

=

do it

Hóro

=

sore

Boro

=

big

Doró

=

hard

Gourib

=

poor

Gouru

=

cow

Mouloi

=

Arabic teacher

Mouris

=

chilly

Fourís

=

read

Gourís

=

do it; perform it, act on
it

Zouloi

=

nail

Sóuloi

=

matches

Foouli

=

mad lady

Tooul

=

in perfect mix or balance

9.Extending sound using long vowel that is ( 2 ) vowels
side by side.

Like the soft
and hard vowels change the meaning of the word, short vowels like (a) and long
vowels like (aa) do change the meaning too such as Mana (=let accept)
and Maana (=free) are not the same. We extend the sound by
placing two vowels side by side. For example:

Gaa

=

body

Maana

=

free

Neel

=

leave

Biili

=

birth given (lady)

Doo

=

knife

Zoo

=

Prosperity

Fool

=

mad

Hoor

=

cloth

Foona

=

ripen

Moota

=

funeral

Muu

=

face

Zuu

=

tide

10.Ascending ( aá )and Descending ( áa ) long vowels.

Sometimes two
soft-vowels used side-by-side as above is not enough to get exact sound and the
meaning. In some place we need the 1st vowel as a soft and the
second vowel as a hard vowel. For example, in Rohingyalish the word Saá,
which means tea, requires two vowels but the 1st one soft and the 2nd
one hard. This arrangement is known as ascending long vowels. Similarly, the
two vowels when arranged the other way around such as in the word Sáa
(where the 1st vowel is hard and the second vowel is soft) is known
as descending long vowels. See the examples below.

Baá

=

climbing

Táa

=

staying

Gaá

=

sing

Gáa

=

infection

Saá

=

tea

Sáa

=

filter

Waá

=

steep

Fáa

=

gap

Maáni

=

meaning

Táani

=

next

Keén

=

how

Théer

=

stop , wait

Meél

=

mill

Fiíl

=

field

Síil

=

seal

Ziín

=

(of) which

Zíi

=

daughter

Boól

=

ball

Sóol

=

sheep

Muúntu

=

in front

Súura

=

verses of Quran

11.
Using ( ai ) instead of y.

Though y is a
consonant, it is also used as a semi-vowel in words such as By, My etc. Since
Rohingyalish understand y as a consonant only, ai is used instead of y
is used as a vowel. Therefore instead of My, By, Fy it will be used as Mai,
Bai, Fai.

Bai

=

dizzy (head)

Bái

=

brother

Sai

=

fish trap

Sái

=

ashes

Lai

=

basket

Nái

=

not there

Félaidé

=

throw it

Hálaide

=

make the skin removed

Solaiféla

=

make it move

Fúaiyé

=

has been dried

12.Using ( oi, ói) to get rolling sounds.

Boroi

=

tablet (medicine)

Borói

=

palm

Touloi

=

bamboo mat

Mouloi

=

religious teacher

Hoñroi

=

heated rice grain

Óroói

=

grain
for mustard oil

Soil

=

rice

Boil

=

fruit
in flower stage

Moillo

=

value

Hoil

=

quarrel

Bóin

=

sister

Óiye

=

done

13.Usages of ( ei ) and ( ui )

Beil

=

sun

Dheil

=

upperlevel land area

Plein

=

aero plane

Teilla

=

cooking
oil producer

Kéil

=

game

Théil

=

branch of trees

Neillé

=

has leaved

Féillé

=

has
dropped

Théilleh

=

has pushed

Kéilleh

=

played

Meillé

=

opened

Neiththé

=

has
laid down

Mui

=

I

Tui

=

you

Muic

=

jungle
cow

Tuñic

=

rice skin

Fúñic

=

needle

Tuñí

=

you
(used to call elders)

Fúille

=

swelled

Kúille

=

opened

Súille

=

skinned

Kuiththa

=

get things ready, in cut

14.( Ñg ), ( Ñy ), and ( Ts )
sounds

Ñgapúra, Ñgapali, and Ñyong-Cóng are
the area names in Myanmar (Burma). These names can be also written as Ngapúra,
Ngapali and Nyong-Cóng because Ng and Ny are used
as international standard.

Ts is a variant of S
producing sound with tongue out as in the word Tsúmma meaning ‘then’ in
Arabic language. Ts is rarely used by Rohingyas.

15.Ending the word with double consonants to get echo,
vibrating or trailing effect